Yearning For Salvation

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In memory of Esther Leah Cymbalista z"l 
Niftera 7 B'Av 5766. 
Dedicated by her family.
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In Loving Memory of Jeffrey Paul Friedman z"l 
August 15, 1968 – July 29, 2012 
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Among the many aggadot that relate to the destruction of the Temple, we find one that is quite perplexing:

Resh Lakish said: It is related about a certain woman named Tzafnat bat Peniel – she was called Tzafnat because all gazed [tzofin] at her beauty, and the daughter of Peniel because she was the daughter of the high priest who ministered in the innermost chamber [lifnai ve-lifnim] – that a brigand abused her a whole night. In the morning, he put seven wraps round her and took her out to sell her.

A certain man who was exceptionally ugly came and said: Show me her beauty.

He said: Fool, if you want to buy her, buy, for [I tell you that] there is no other so beautiful in all the world.

He said to him: All the same [show her to me].

He took seven wraps off her, and she herself tore off the seventh and rolled in the dust, saying: Sovereign of the universe, [even] if You do not have pity on us, why do you not have pity on the sanctity of Your mighty Name? For her Yirmiyahu laments, saying: "O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth and wallow in ashes; make you mourning as for an only son, for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us" (Yirmiyahu 6:26)...It does not say "upon you," but "upon us": the spoiler is come, if one may say so, upon Me and upon you. (Gittin 58a)

There seems to be a certain small-mindedness here. Was it about this that Yirmiyahu lamented? Was it not about the Temple that was destroyed, about the Temple Mount that had become desolate, about Jerusalem that had been debased, about the people of God who had fallen in battle or were taken into captivity?

The questions continue: What is the significance of the sanctity of God’s mighty name, particularly with regard to the story of the ugly man? What difference does it make whether he was ugly or handsome? Why did the woman roll in the dust only after she was stripped of her wraps, and not all night while she was being abused by the brigand? Was not the conduct of the brigand worse, especially considering he tried to sell her after having abused her? (The Torah indicates the severity of this humiliation when it cautions regarding a female captive: "You shall not sell her at all for money, you shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humiliated her" [Devarim 21:14]). Indeed, the ugly man simply asked to see the woman's beauty, which others did all the time; that is why she was named Tzofnat!

We must also try to understand Chazal’s purpose in noting that the woman was the daughter of the High Priest – and, moreover, that for this reason she was called the daughter of Peniel, which implies that the High Priesthood was connected to her unique essence. (Compare this to the account that precedes this one in Gittin, about the uniquely beautiful son and daughter of Rabbi Yishmael; there, too, we find beauty rooted in the High Priesthood.)

tHE sHEKHINA, exile, and redemption.

According to Kabbalistic teachings, in the beginning of creation, when an abundance of supernal light descended to illuminate, the available vessels could not contain the abundance and they shattered. Sparks of the light then fell to the depths, where they remain hidden and obscure, with a mantle of thick matter over them. Those sparks are the Shekhina, the Divine Presence in our world that rests in every part of creation.

When the human eye penetrates through screens and husks, it can discern those sparks. "If you wish, O man, look at the light of the Shekhina in the entire universe; look at heavenly life, how it wallows in every corner of life" (Orot ha-Kodesh I, p. 83). 

Anything that is not of the physical body of a thing, but of its form, is light from above. The beauty in every thing, its grace, its splendor, its lofty sublimity, its uniqueness… is a spark. (This issue is discussed extensively in Kabbalistic and Chassidic texts, and is well explained in the books of R. Hillel Zeitlin).

These elements of grace and beauty call out to man, as it were, to elevate them, to redeem them from the captivity of matter, to connect with them, and to return them to their source, to the quarry from which they were hewn. When man does this, he merits repairing the defects of creation. But if, God forbid, he connects with those sparks, and brings them down to the dark wells of forbidden lusts and desires, he adds to the corruption, exiles the sparks from their places, and sends the Shekhina into exile.

Hoping and seeing

Much has been written about the triad of world, year, and soul; that is to say, place, time, and man. Each includes different levels of sanctity.

The most sanctified place – the Holy of Holies.

The most sanctified time of the year – Yom Kippur.

The most sanctified of people – the High Priest.

It is possible for the three of them – the most sanctified place, time, and person – to come together and bring to the world a state of the highest sanctity. This meeting takes place when the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur.

“The daughter of Peniel” – the daughter of the High Priest, who enters the Holy of Holies. That is to say, Tzofnat’s roots lie in that intersection of sanctities. It is no wonder then that “there is no other so beautiful in all the world.” Tzofnat’s beauty is therefore a reflection of heavenly beauty – while ugliness represents matter that has no beauty, lacks grace, and is void of sparks.

For the exceptionally ugly man to set his eyes on the woman’s beauty would lower and diminish her beauty, and cause it to go out into exile. He spoils the beauty – “For the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us” – upon Me and upon you.

It is true that all had gazed upon her beauty, but there is a big difference between their gaze and that of the ugly man. They gazed upon her and thereby connected themselves to heavenly beauty. Their gazing [tzefiya] also included awaiting [tzipiya], hoping, yearning. Gazing at her turned into a yearning for her inner light. (A tzofeh is one who waits to see, and what he sees is a message for all, whether for the good or for the bad.) This is not the case with the ugly man. He does not seek out what is hidden. On the contrary, he wishes to expose and lay bare; to turn the hidden into that which is seen, the eternal future into the momentary, fleeting, and crude present.

It is true that the brigand who had taken her captive abused her all night, but even he at least appreciated her beauty, and therefore covered her in seven wraps. He knew that a spark must be covered and concealed.

This concealment, this movement inward, is the might and restraint in God’s name (in contrast to the lovingkindness, which indicates expansion). This is what the young woman meant when she cried out: “Why do you not have pity on the sanctity of Your mighty Name?” The might and restraint in His name – modesty, withdrawal, seclusion – were exposed. This is the depth of the destruction and exile – the inner exile – the exile of the Shekhina. (Compare to the Gemara’s earlier account of Titus [Gittin 56b], who spread out a Torah scroll in the Holy of Holies and committed a sin on it. This too is the depth of exile and destruction – using the most sanctified place, and the most sanctified object, a Torah scroll, for the most abominable sin. There is no greater exile of the Shekhina. You might even say it is worse than the burning of the Temple which occurred afterwards, the burning being a consequence of what happened earlier.)

Did Chizkiyahu cause the exile?!

There is a fine line between purity and impurity, between sanctity and abomination, between exile and redemption. Chizkiyahu, king of Yehuda, was so righteous that God wished to make him the Moshiach; had he recited a song over the fall of Sancheriv, the period of redemption would have begun in his day. That would have put an end to evil and wickedness, and begun a time of good and lovingkindness (Sanhedrin 94a).

The kings who reigned before and after Chizkiyahu stirred up anger in the world because of their evil actions, and when they pushed God’s patience to the limit, destruction came upon the land and the people went into exile. It is natural to hang the destruction on those kings. It is therefore surprising to read the following verses in the prophecy of Yeshayahu:

Why so? Previous verses explain:

At that time, Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a letter and a present to Chizkiyahu; for he had heard that Chizkiyahu had been sick. And Chizkiyahu hearkened to them, and showed them all his treasure-house, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures; there was nothing in his house, nor all in his dominion, that Chizkiyahu did not show them. (II Melakhim 20:12-13, and see Sanhedrin 104a)

Chizkiyahu did not commit any of the severe sins – idolatry, sexual offenses, and bloodshed – nor did he even commit minor transgressions. Where is one commanded not to show foreigners his own treasures or the treasures of God? Is it possible that with this action, which is not even a sin in the conventional sense, Chizkiyahu caused his sons to go into exile?

          Perhaps with the answer is that we are not talking about a case of a punishment, but of a reality. Chizkiyahu began the galut (exile) in the sense of revealing and exposing (galah). It was he who revealed that which was concealed and hidden from strangers’ eyes, and the necessary consequence was exile.

          The road to repair and redemption runs in the opposite direction: gazing at the visible light in order to raise it to the level of the concealed and hidden light, to return the sparks to their source.

This article was published in Hebrew in Alon Shevut, no. 19, Rosh Chodeh Av 5731. Translated by David Strauss)